X-ray & Optical Images of DEM L50
DEM L50 (a.k.a. N186) is what astronomers call a superbubble. These objects are found in regions where massive stars have formed, raced through their evolution, and exploded as supernovas. The winds and shock waves from the supernovas carve out huge cavities in the gas and dust around them, creating superbubbles (see the labeled image). These images show X-rays from Chandra and optical data from ground-based telescopes. The superbubble in DEM L50 is giving off about 20 times more X-rays than expected by standard models. Researchers think supernova shock waves striking the walls of the cavities and hot material evaporating from the cavity walls may be responsible for this additional X-ray emission.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Michigan/A.E.Jaskot, Optical: NOAO/CTIO/MCELS.)

Wide field Optical Image of LMC Superbubble
This optical image shows a wide-field area around the superbubble DEM L50 located in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160,000 light years from Earth. The MCELS data were obtained with the University of Michigan's 0.9-meter Curtis Schmidt telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). The shape of DEM L50 is approximately an ellipse, with a supernova remnant named SNR N186 D located on its northern edge.(Credit: NOAO/CTIO/MCELS.)